The present invention relates generally to ultrasonic fuel gauging systems, and more particularly, to an aircraft ultrasonic fuel gauging system adapted to also assess battle damage to the aircraft and a counterpart method of performing the same.
Generally, aircraft ultrasonic fuel gauging systems include one or more ultrasonic transducers disposed at a fuel tank of the aircraft for determining the quantity of fuel in the tank. The transducers are excited periodically to transmit pulses directed toward the surface of the fuel in the tank and receive echoes which are processed to determine the level of fuel in the tank based on time of flight and other calculations. An exemplary ultrasonic fuel gauging system is disclosed in the U.S. Pat. No. 6,236,142 B1, granted to Durkee et al. on May 22, 2001, entitled “Ultrasonic Fuel Gauging System” and assigned to the same assignee as the instant application, which patent being incorporated by reference herein.
Battle damage to an aircraft, caused, for example, by projectiles penetrating the airframe or fuel tank itself, has been determined heretofore by a separate and independent system which adds volume and weight to the aircraft. Aircraft designers prefer to keep the weight of the avionics to a minimum to save on the amount of fuel to complete a mission. Moreover, since the aircraft has a limited volume for storage of avionics, it is desirable to reduce the size of or eliminate avionics wherever possible.
Accordingly, it is desirable to combine the functions of fuel gauging and battle damage assessment in a common avionics instrument, if possible. The present invention provides for a common avionics system which satisfies this desire.